1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a child or infant seat, and particularly to a child's safety seat for use on a water craft, such as a boat. Specifically, this invention is related to a child's seat for use on a boat which seat is designed such that, in the event of being accidentally thrown in the water, the seat device automatically uprights itself with the child's head and shoulders positioned above the surface of the water.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
While seating devices and buoyancy devices on board boats are well known, they commonly are provided as simple transverse bench-type seats or padded seats with back supports and floatable, padded seat cushions or individual flotation vests. Various seating apparatus for boats are described in the prior art. U.S. Pat. No. 4,709,648 discloses a boat seat bracket for mounting a seat assembly upon an elongated horizontal transverse bench seat of a fishing boat permitting the seat assembly to shift (slide) transversely across the bench seat and permitting the seat assembly to shift to a stored position by swinging, relative to the bench seat, between an operative position overlying and supported from the bench seat and an inoperative position forwardly and downwardly toward the associated boat bottom. U.S. Pat. No. 4,934,303 teaches a convertible bolster/seat for recreational boats. U.S. Pat. No. 5,119,754 describes a boat seat stabilizing apparatus. U.S. Pat. No. 5,309,861 discloses a shock-absorber mounted seat for personal watercraft and boats. Also, U.S. Pat. No. Des. 254,345 shows an ornamental design for a boat seat, and U.S. Pat. No. Des. 303,878 shows a design for a foldable seat for use primarily in a boat. Additional child seating devices are taught in U.S. Pat. Nos.: Des. 151,317 (design for a child's chair); Des. 332,877 (child's bicycle seat); and Des. 349,412 (sport seat).
It remains, however, that if a watercraft or boat equipped with any of the above-described devices is subjected to rough water or is involved in an accident which results in a small child or infant residing in one of these devices being swept from the boat into the water, none of the known devices would insure the child's safety in the water. None of these previously known devices include the combination of structural features necessary to provide a safe seat for a young child or infant which, in the event the occupied seat is accidentally thrown overboard, will hold or float the infant's head and shoulders above the water for an extended period of time until a rescue can be made. This, then, is the object of the instant invention.